SUNDAY MORNING LIVE: YOLO? Say No No. Adam Levine Gets Some Help from Andy Samberg and the Return of the 'SNL' Digital Short

Welcome to the twelfth edition of Sunday Morning Live, Popculturology's look at the latest edition of Saturday Night Live. All of your questions about the Adam Levine-hosted episode will be answered after the jump.

How'd Adam Levine do?



For a guy who isn't an actor, Levine hosted a pretty great episode of SNL. Of course, it helps that the Maroon 5 frontman got to play himself numerous times during the episode, but I guess the show is best when it plays to a host's strengths. Adam Levine is very good at being Adam Levine, whether he's fighting Train, Jason Mraz and John Mayer or being seduced by a woman who looks like a snowman with a wig on it.

Levine didn't enter the SNL arena without backup, though, as he was supported by Andy Samberg, Cameron Diaz and Jerry Seinfeld appearances during the monologue. Samberg and Levine previously collaborated on Iran So Far, one of the best Digital Shorts, so it made sense that Samberg was there. Diaz was funny and Seinfeld was Seinfeld, but I would have appreciated better cameos during the monologue, especially after Samberg dropped Justin Timberlake's name. I'm pretty sure this is the longest Timberlake drought in the history of the show since Timberlake hosted for the first time.

By the end of the night, Levine did begin to rely on the cue cards, but I'm going to chalk that up to the fact that he was one-on-one with Bobby Moynihan in drag.


Before you get the night's best sketches, did Andy Samberg bring the return of the Digital Short with him?



Oh, Sunday Morning Live, you always ask such efficient questions. Yes, with the return of Samberg to SNL also came the return of the Digital Short. The entire Lonely Island gang was back (that's Samberg, Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer, in case you weren't paying attention the past seven years), and with the help of Levine and musical guest Kendrick Lamar, they delivered a Digital Short that skewered the ridiculous notion of YOLO. You only live once? Well, you better avoid anything dangerous in the world. Furniture? Killing machines. Danny McBride even made a brief cameo during Digital Short No. 102.

Also, in case anyone was wondering, that's The Joy Formidable's song Whirring being sampled for this Digital Short.


OK, so what were the best sketches of the night?



Bill Hader needs to be remembered as one of the greatest talents ever to grace the SNL stage, proving once again with this sketch just how great he is. Hader delivered a ridiculous performance as a firefighter intent on infusing a reception with as much drama as possible when his ex-girlfriend showed up with another firefighter. Bryce, Hader's character, is probably the only person crushed at the loss of ABC's Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23, exclaiming "Not the B! That's bonkers!" at one point.



Somehow SNL got a sketch about a show on The Gay Network called Circle Work "where we sit in a circle and work it out" past the censors. Bravo, SNL. This wasn't even some sketch they buried at the end of the night — it was first live sketch after the monologue.



Forget Levine. The entire premise of this sketch was to dress Moynihan up in drag see how many awful things SNL could get away with having him say. The character Janet pointing out that she once farted so bad on a plane, the plane had to land was only the beginning.


After skipping the presidential inauguration last weekend, did SNL do any political sketches this weekend?

Both President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden got the SNL treatment this episode, opening and closing the show with sketches.



In the vein of A Christmas Carol (or at least Mickey's Christmas Carol, since that's the only version I'm familiar with), Obama was visited by the ghost of Martin Luther King Jr. after the inauguration. To the president's surprise, the specter of the civil rights leader was more interested in talking about Beyonce and the fact that there aren't any black magicians than weighing in on how Obama was upholding MLK's legacy. It's kind of sad that SNL only has three black comedians on the show: skinny black guy (Jay Pharoah), fat black guy (Keenan Thompson) and white black guy (Fred Armisen previously playing Obama). While Pharoah can blend into myriad impressions, Thompson only has one impression, and that's Thompson doing an impression.



Any time SNL can have Jason Sudeikis play Biden, they need to jump at that chance. Just as The Onion has discovered, Biden is a gold mine for comedy. Biden Time is always a good time.


Besides the Digital Short, did SNL air any other shorts?



A fake commercial for Rosetta Stone got the post-monologue spot, making the argument that the only reason anyone would ever get Rosetta Stone Thai would be if they planned on going to the country for nefarious purposes.



If The CW is making a prequel series to Sex and the City, why can't they do the same thing for The Sopranos? This short was kind of a one-note sketch, but I enjoyed Moynihan yelling "Call me Ishmael, bitch!" as he beat Tim Robinson's character with a book. Speaking of Robinson, the rookie castmembers have basically disappeared in the post-Christmas episodes, with Robin, Cecily Strong and Aidy Bryant barely appearing in Levine's episode


What's next?

SNL is back on Feb. 9 with Justin Bieber hosting and performing as the musical guest.


Previous editions of Sunday Morning Live

Jan. 20, 2013: Jennifer Lawrence
Dec. 16, 2012: Martin Short
Dec. 9, 2012: Jamie Foxx
Nov. 18, 2012: Jeremy Renner
Nov. 11, 2012: Anne Hathaway
Nov. 4, 2012: Louis C.K.
Oct. 21, 2012: Bruno Mars
Oct. 14, 2012: Christina Applegate
Oct. 7, 2012: Daniel Craig
Sept. 23, 2012: Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Sept. 16, 2012: Seth MacFarlane